Lighting or igniting device for lamps.



A. PILLUNGER. LIGHTING 0R IGNITING DEVICE FOR LAMPS.

4 APPLIOATION FILED MAR. 7, 1908. 1,057,536.

Patented Apr. 1, 1913.

aeaasaa of'steel or file.

UNI @TATlEh PATENT @lfiltlllCE.

AUGUST FILLUNGQER, OF. MAl-IRISCIL. OSTRAU, AUSTRIA-rHUNG-ARY.

I LIGHTING 0R IGNITING DEVICE FOR LAMPS.

1 lighting devices for lamps and especially for miners safety'lamps, 2'. 6., lamps manufactured after the design of Sir Humphrey Davy.

The purpose of the invention is to make unnecessary the complicated and unreliable devices, such as primer strips, capsules and the like, which are-now in generaluse and toavoid the inconveniences incident to the use of those unsatisfactory devices.

The invention'isbased on the properties of certain solidbodies, and especially of pyrophorous metal alloys, such as the alloy of iron and cerium, to emit sparks when brought into frictional contact with a piece Until the applicant commenced' his experiments it was deemed unlikely that the said alloy could be used for miners safety lamps, for it would appear that the sparks would pass through the mesh of the wire chimney and ignite the fire d'ampin the mine. A'fter'many experiments, the applicant has found that the sparks are not dangerous after traveling about 9mm;, andtherefoie cannot ignite the gases of the mine even if they pass through the" mesh of the wire chimney. Hitherto, white phosphorus was generally used for lighting minerssafetylamps, but this sub stance is so dangerous to manufacture that in the European countries its use is forbidden except! for.- igniting strips for miners safety lamps, no other satisfactory means being hitherto known for use in the lighting of miners safety lamps. In the use of the igniting strips, now universally provided for lighting miners safety lamps, it frequently happens that the igniting strip fails to operate until after four or five attempts have been made to light the lamp when the strip which has missed fire will burn causing the production of vapors which cover the lamp chimney greatly diminishing the lighting. efi'ect of the lamp. All these objections are overcome by the use of my lighting device and it is. necessary to renew the members of my device only at by the guiding tube (Lin its motion.

Specification of Letters Patent.

.Patenteddipr. it, 1%13.

Application filedMareh'Y; 180E. Serial'Na. arenas very'long'intervals'while in the devices now in use the igniting strips must be replaced constantly;

Another advantage in the use of my invention is that while the lighting devices heretofore I known occupy considerable space inthelower part of the miners safety lamps,- thereby' limitin the oil supply my device will not encroac" on the oil receptacle except for the passage of a tube of an inch in diameter. 1

In the drawings similar reference characters refer to similar partsin all the views in which:

Figure l is a side elevation of the lighting' device; Fig: 2' is an enlarged sectional view of the means for pressing the pyrophorous material against the disk; Fig. 3 is a view of the lower portion of the miners safety lamp with my lighting device applied thereto; Fig: 4 is a plan View of the arrangement of the members as shown in Fig. 3;

The lighting device consists of a spindlea' which is arranged to slide up and down in a tube providedin the body or font A of the lamp.- The spindle'a is provided at its upper end witha milled-disk Z) and at its lower end with a loosely fitting sleeve 0, disposed between it and the said tube; there being a-bayonet slot in the sleeve 0 with which engages astud on the spindle a so that by turning the sleeve 0 the spindle a may be raised or lowered as desired to an operative or'inoperative position. At the lower end of the sleeve 0 is secured a milled disk 71. for rotating'it. pressed apiece of pyrophorous material 6 such asan-alloy of iron and-cerium-with a constant pressure by means of a spring f disposed in abox mounted on a sheet metal bracket 9, lhe pyroprohous body is guided The sheet metal bracket 9' is fixed to the tube which serves as a guide to the spindle a, the rotation of the whole lighting device being prevented by the bracket 9 which is shaped to fit the burner or wick tube 73, which serves as an abutment. It is, however, understood that the bracket 9 is free to move upwardly and downwardly against the burner. To prevent the spindle a from moving upwardly or downwardly out of position with respect to the yrophorous material e, the tube i is con ned between the disk b and an enlargement m on the spin- Against the wheel 7) isdle.' Burner 70 is encircled by a glass chimney 0 that extends vertically beyond the same, while the chimney is surmounted by a wire gauze inclosure or dome p.

' In using the device the button or finger iece h is. drawn downwardly and is rotated clockwise so that the stud on the spin- (lle a willtravel to the top of thebayonet slot when by pushingupwardly onthe button h the disk 6 and the pyrophorous madevice is withdrawn and the sleeve 0 is rotated in the opposite direction to move it into the tube. The lighting device is lowered to prevent it from casting shadows and also to prevent it from becoming heated.

What I claim as new is: 1

1. In a miners safety lamp, a fuel font, a burner tube extending upwardly therefrom, in combination with an igniting devicecomprising a supporting member slidably mounted in the font and carrying a relatively fixed pyrophorous body and a coacting relatively movable friction member,.and an exte'riorly accessible finger piece for raising the supporting member tobring said pyrophorous body and friction member into substantial horizontal 'alinement with the upper end of the burner tube and for sub burner tube extending upwardly therefrom,

in combination with an igniting device comprising a supporting member slidably mount ed in the font and carrying a relatively fixed pyrophorous body and a coacting-friction 'memberrotatable in a horizontal plane, and

an exteriorly accessible finger piece for raising the supporting member to bring said pyrophorous body and friction member into substantial horizontal alinementwith the upper end of the burner tube and for subsequently rotating the friction member while contacting with the pyrophorous body.

' 3. The combination with a lamp of cooperating members mounted on a bracket and a rotatable spindle, said spindle being disposed in a tube, said tube-being integral with said bracket, said spindle adapted to position said members operatively with respect to the burner of said lamp, and when-- rotated to cause relative movement between said members to effect the lighting operalighting members secured to the spindle and the bracket respectively, means to prevent.

the rotation of the bracket, means for check ing, relative longitudinal movement of said .tube and spindle, a sleeve in which the bottom of the spindle is disposed and a' bayonet joint between the spindle and the sleeve.

5. The combination with a lamp having an opening through the body thereof, of a tube, abracket secured thereto, a spindle dis-- posed in the tube, a metallic disk,' a pyrophorous substance in contact therewith, one of the two last named elements being mount ed on the spindle and the other on the bracket, means to prevent the rotation of p the bracket, means to, rotate and to raise and lower the spindle relatively to the body of the lamp.

In witness whereof I have hereuntosi ed my name in the presence of two subscri ing witnesses.

- AUGUST FILLUNGER. \Vitnesses .RoBERr W. HEINGARTNER,

Aueus'r FUGGER. 

